Instead, head coach Bob Hartley, surprisingly calm in the moments after Thursday’s 5-4 road loss to the Colorado Avalanche, questioned if the current cast of Calgary Flames is any different from the crew that couldn’t get the job done last season.

“I’ve watched many games from last year,” Hartley said. “And it seems to be the same song.”

Flames fans know how this song ends.

Early.

With locker-stall clean-outs and exit meetings on about the same day the puck drops on the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Brent Sutter knows the lyrics better than anybody.

He stood behind the bench at the Saddledome for three seasons before his contract expired and he was replaced Hartley.

Now splitting his time between his ranch and the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels, Sutter wouldn’t have been surprised the Flames could not complete the shutout in Tuesday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild.

He wouldn’t have been shocked that they spit up a three-goal lead against the Avalanche two nights later.

After the Flames were mathematically eliminated with two games to go last season, Sutter told reporters at the Saddledome that he was “totally responsible” for the early exit. In the same breath, though, he hinted legendary skipper Scotty Bowman might not have been able to lead this bunch to the playoffs.

“It’s not something that just transpired here. It’s grown,” Sutter said on a miserable Monday morning last April. “And at some point in time, it has to be addressed head on.”

With an aging core and not much top-end talent in the farm system, Flames GM Jay Feaster has tried to re-tool this group.

He traded for Dennis Wideman and immediately signed the offensive-minded defenceman to a lucrative, long-term contract extension, locking up the powerplay quarterback the city had been longing for.

Wideman was averaging almost a point per game early in his tenure with the Flames but hasn’t hit the scoresheet in the past six contests.

Calgary’s powerplay is 2-for-22 during that span. Even rounding up, that’s an awful efficiency rate of 9.1%, and it’s important to point out both of those man-advantage markers came in the first period, not when the team desperately needed an insurance marker or a game-tying goal.

Feaster signed forward Jiri Hudler, who was schooled on success in the Detroit Red Wings organization.

Hudler had three assists against the Avalanche and now has four goals and nine helpers in 16 skates, but he’s too often been a non-factor at crucial times for his new team.

Feaster made a bold move Thursday afternoon, signing restricted free agent centre Ryan O’Reilly to an offer sheet, but the Avalanche waited only a few hours before announcing they would match.

The Flames GM originally billed Roman Cervenka — a two-time all-star in the KHL — as the skilled centre he had been searching for.

Turns out, Cervenka is a winger.

That’s a new twist.

This part isn’t ...

Thursday’s meeting at Pepsi Center was being treated a must-win game by the Flames. And they lost.

Hartley has split the season into seven-game segments, a way to measure their progress without staring at the NHL’s Western Conference standings every morning.

The Flames failed to hit their target in a six-game set (48 doesn’t divide by seven) to open the campaign.

They were bang-on in the second, collecting nine points.

Regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s clash with the Vancouver Canucks (6 p.m., SNWest) at the Saddledome, they’ll fall short again in the third segment.

“That’s our road map to the playoffs. We feel if we get nine points every round, we should be there. That’s our plan, and that’s our short-term goal,” Hartley said after Thursday’s morning skate at the Pepsi Center.

“Like any good business, you need the long-term goal, and we all know the long-term goal, but the short-term goal is to get nine points.”

Didn’t happen.

With just seven regulation wins in 19 games, the long-term goal is a longshot, too.

Instead, head coach Bob Hartley, surprisingly calm in the moments after Thursday’s 5-4 road loss to the Colorado Avalanche, questioned if the current cast of Calgary Flames is any different from the crew that couldn’t get the job done last season.

“I’ve watched many games from last year,” Hartley said. “And it seems to be the same song.”

Flames fans know how this song ends.

Early.

With locker-stall clean-outs and exit meetings on about the same day the puck drops on the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Brent Sutter knows the lyrics better than anybody.

He stood behind the bench at the Saddledome for three seasons before his contract expired and he was replaced Hartley.

Now splitting his time between his ranch and the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels, Sutter wouldn’t have been surprised the Flames could not complete